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Common Admission Test

CAT Exam 2018

CAT exam or the Common Admission Test is a computer-based MBA entrance test for admissions into the IIMs and several other prestigious B-Schools in the Country. CAT exam is conducted every year by the IIMs on a rotational basis and CAT exam 2018 will be conducted by IIM Calcutta. The CAT 2018 exam date has also been already released this year. IIM Calcutta will conduct CAT 2018 exam on November 25, 2018. Some of the main details of CAT exam like what is CAT exam and CAT exam date 2018 are explained below.

CAT Exam Info

CAT Exam 2018 Conducting Institute

IIM Calcutta

CAT Exam Mode

Only Online

CAT Exam Date 2018

November 25, 2018

CAT Exam Question Types

MCQs and TITA (Type In The Answer)

CAT Application Mode

Online Only

CAT exam is a highly competitive exam and almost a quarter of a million students appear for it every year. Only a handful of the total applicants make it their preferred institute. For CAT exam, it is important to note certain details before registration. The important exam details that should be checked are:

What is CAT Exam?

CAT Exam Date

CAT Exam Eligibility

CAT Exam Pattern

CAT Syllabus

CAT Registration

Eligibility Verification

Admission Process

All these details about the CAT are explained below. Before going to the CAT exam details, it is important to note what the CAT exam actually is and why is it important.

What is CAT Exam?

CAT Exam (Common Admission Test) is a computer-based selection test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as a prerequisite for admissions to their business administration programs. Apart from the IIMs, the CAT is also a prerequisite for admissions into numerous other prestigious management colleges across India which includes institutes like S.P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Management Development Institute (Gurgaon), Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), International Management Institute (IMI), National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) and several others.

CAT Exam Dates & Events

CAT 2018 Event Description

Event Date

CAT Exam Online Registration Start Date

August 8th, 2018

CAT Exam Online Registration Close Date

September 19th, 2018

CAT Admit Card Release Date

October 24th, 2018

CAT exam Date

November 25, 2018

CAT Exam Result Declaration

2nd Week of January, 2019

For CAT 2017, IIM Lucknow officially released the CAT 2017 results on January 8, 2018. Similarly, it can be expected that for CAT 2018, the results will be declared by the second week of January, 2019 by IIM Calcutta.

CAT Exam Eligibility

To be able to get eligible for CAT, candidates to fulfil the following criterion:

Should Hold a Bachelor’s Degree and have secured a minimum of 50% marks or equivalent CGPA. The students belonging to any of the reserved categories like Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC), and Persons with Disability (PWD) or Differently Abled (DA) category must have at least 45% marks.

The degree has to be awarded by any of the Universities included by an act of the central or a state legislature in India, or any other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or are declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or hold an equivalent qualification recognized by the MHRD, India.

Applicants who are appearing for the final year of their bachelor’s degree and the candidates who have completed their graduation degree requirements and are awaiting results are also eligible to apply. If selected, candidates will be allowed to join the program provisionally, only if he/ she submits a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of her/his College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2018) mentioning that the particular candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date when the certificate was issued.

The detailed CAT eligibility can be checked from this article and candidates are suggested to check it thoroughly before applying. IIMs may verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process, the details of which are provided on the official IIM website.

CAT Exam Pattern

The paper pattern for the CAT exam has changed several times in the past. For the last 2 years, the pattern has remained the same with respect to the total marks and no. of sections. A brief detail about the pattern is given.

The detailed CAT exam pattern 2018 can be checked from this article. It is important to check the pattern properly as it will give a detailed idea about the exam and can help to strategize proper preparation plan accordingly.

CAT Exam Syllabus

For the CAT exam, there is no predefined syllabus. The syllabus is mainly from the middle school topics of Maths, and English with some generic logical reasoning questions. A few of the details of CAT syllabus are:

CAT Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation: The logical reasoning section is very generic and a wide variety of questions based on seating arrangement, direction sense test, etc. are included. The data interpretation section includes questions mostly based on data caselets and graphs.

CAT Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension: In this section, comprehension passages are given followed by a few questions. Apart from that, few of the grammar-based questions like sentence completion, jumbled sentences, etc. are asked.

To know the detailed syllabus for all these sections, visit CAT syllabus.

CAT Exam Registration

CAT exam registration is only available online. The application form is released by the conducting IIM on the official CAT website and applicants are required to fill out the details. The CAT 2018 registration has already started from 8th August and will continue till 19th September. A correction window will also be available later. It is important for the candidates to be careful while filling in the details as any discrepancies later may result in the cancellation of the complete application. The complete details about the registration process are available in the linked article.

Eligibility Verification

If an applicant is shortlisted for WAT and PI by any of the IIMs, he/she has to comply with the following eligibility verification:

Marksheets and Degree Certificate

Shortlisted candidates are required to produce all the original mark sheets and submit attested photocopies in support of their eligibility at the time of their interview. Also, if a candidate is selected for a particular programme, he/she is also required to submit the original degree certificate and marksheets of all semesters/years along with their respective attested copies at the time of joining the programme.

Reservation Category Requirements

For ST, SC, NC-OBC and DA candidates, if shortlisted, are required to show their original caste/class and/or Disability certificate and submit a copy of the certificate at the time of the interview. Also, a candidate selected for a programme will have to submit the original certificate of qualifying degree and attested copy of the same for verification.

Candidates appearing for the final year bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification examination are required to produce an original certificate from the Principal/Registrar/Director of the University/institution certifying that the candidate has obtained 50% marks or equivalent (45% for the SC, ST, and DA category candidates) based on latest available grades/marks at the time of interview. He/she is also required to submit an attested copy of the original certificate (for category candidates).

For the Post Graduate Programmes of IIMs, if the candidates are selected, they will be allowed to join the programme PROVISIONALLY ONLY if they submit a certificate from the Registrar/Principal of their college/institute mentioning that they have completed all the necessary requirements including appearing for supplementary exams, if any (the results may, however, be awaited) for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/ equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate. Also, one must obtain at least 50% marks or equivalent grade and should submit an attested copy of the graduation marksheets and their qualifying degree certificate.

The deadline for submission of the mark sheet and the certificate is 31st December 31, 2018. IIMs also state that “NON FULFILLMENT OF THIS CONDITION WILL AUTOMATICALLY RESULT IN THE CANCELLATION OF THE PROVISIONAL ADMISSION.” In such cases, provisional admission will also be cancelled if it is found that the certificate is incorrect or has any discrepancies later. IIMs does not allow any individual to join any of their programmes in case a candidate fails to complete all the requirements for a bachelor degree on or before June 30, 2019. After June 30, 2019, the IIMs would allow admissions to any candidate.

Admission Process

It should be noted that individual IIM shortlists candidates for their second stage of selection independently.

The selection process includes a Written Ability Test (WAT) and a Personal Interview (PI). The performance of individuals in CAT 2018 exam will be an important component in the overall selection process.

IIMs also consider previous academic records of the candidates, relevant work experience and other similar inputs while shortlisting and ranking the candidates at various stages during the admission process. The processes, academic cut-offs and the weights allocated to the evaluation parameters may vary across IIMs. For more information, one may refer to the admissions policies on respective IIM's website.

As the CAT exam is a very competitive exam, it is important that candidates should be well prepared for it. CAT aspirants are suggested to sign-up at BYJU'S and download BYJU'S- The Learning App to get complete assistance in preparation.

Aspirants are also suggested to keep visiting BYJU'S for more details about the exam and get notified about important updates related to the exam. At BYJU'S, candidates can also get complete assistance for CAT preparation.

BYJU’S – The Learning App

BYJU’S being the creator of India’s largest personalised K12 learning app and India’s largest educational company offers highly effective, adaptive and engaging learning programs for students from classes 4-12 grades and competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT. BYJU’S was launched in 2015 and has become the most preferred and loved learning app for students across age groups.

BYJU’S the learning app makes use of original content, interactive simulations, engaging and rich in animations video lessons from India’s best teachers. Today, BYJU’S has over 21 million registered students and 1.26 million annual paid subscriptions. With an average time of 57 minutes being spent by a student on the app every day from 1700+ cities, the BYJU’S app is helping millions experience enjoyable and effective learning.

Technology enabled Learning

At BYJU’S, our core strength lies in creating high quality learning modules and interactive videos across grades. Offering an engaging and effective learning experience, the app creates personalized learn journeys for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which helps them learn at their own pace and style. We have even transformed the one-to-many learning model to one-on-one personalized learning experiences through our app, setting a benchmark in education technology nationally as well as globally.

Best Teachers with Engaging Content

At BYJU’S, what has helped us create a holistic learning experience for students is the unique combination of media, technology and content.. With the use of technology and real life teachers – it makes the delivery of concepts very easy, effective and engaging. In fact, teachers play a crucial role to keep students engaged through the video lesson and give them the ‘someone who they can relate to’, and ‘someone who can explain the concepts’ to them in a fun, simple and engaging way.

Overall, BYJU’S is pioneering personalized learning based on size and style of learning of every student. The app merges videos, interactives and teachers to bring concepts to life. With an average time of 57 minutes being spent by a student on the app every day, the app has become the most loved and preferred education app for students across age groups. BYJU’S learning program is a complete learning experience that integrates classes from the best of the teachers (who are empowered by tech enable teaching tools), assessments and assignments which are personalised for every student, along with in-depth analysis and recommendations.

Individual Learning Profiles for Students

The backbone of BYJU’S personalization engine is the rich learning profile that is built for every student. This is powered by deep Knowledge Graphs of over 50,000 concepts and relationships that have been created to design personal learning journeys – videos, questions, adaptive flows, quizzes, flashcards, correctional learning videos etc. Additionally, the learning content is also tagged to multiple other properties and parameters. For example – When a student starts going through their learn journey, a rich learning profile is built for each student to personalize the experience.

This enables us to customize the learning experience for students based on their strengths and weaknesses and their specific learning gaps, pace and needs. The content is tagged at the sub-micro concept level and this helps the algorithms create a smooth learning curve for the student so that they feel challenged yet motivated. Whenever they make a mistake, we identify the right remedial method to strengthen the student’s learning experience.

We at BYJU’S believe in giving our students the best learning experience across grades and courses. If you are wondering if we have the services required for your child, here are the courses we offer :
• Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology for CBSE, ICSE and ISC ( Classes 4th-12th)
• Coupling NCERT Solutions with respective grade portions
• IAS Exam courses
• IT JEE, NEET, CAT preparation courses